Trip to Amsterdam: Day 1

Today was the D-Day for our trip to Amsterdam. It was the day of our departure, basically. We were to meet at the station in order to take the train to Brussels. There were lots of people in the train, but some of us managed to get a seat, others had to stand throughout the whole trip. We finally arrived in Brussels North Station round 9.45 pm. Our train to Amsterdam was to leave at 10.15 or something like that.

Meanwhile, some of us fetched a drink or something else to eat. (I bought a so-called pain saucisse. Tasty!) Mr Van Mensel found us waiting on the platform. The air was really really cold… Everyone was trying to get a little warmer by keeping their hands in their pockets and covering their heads with scarfs, hoods…

We took the international train to Amsterdam, but we'd have to get off the train in Den Haag (The Hague) in order to see several things in the economic and political capital of the Netherlands. So we arrived there about less than three hours later, meeting Mrs Leijnse in the station. Then we put our cases in some metal device having the form of bank safes, and we walked to the Mauritshuis, i.e. a museum displaying many beautiful pieces of artwork, but also (as kind of cherry on the cake) the famous Meisje met de parel by Johannes Vermeer.

A little bit later, outside, we got to listen to Pitchou and Wilhelm who gave us a historical and political survey of the Binnenhof, i.e. the Parliament of the Netherlands. The air seemed colder and colder, so that we haven't stayed there for long. And before I forgot, please note that we saw our first "Bekende Nederlander":

Mrs Leijnse: "You see that man with a hamster on his head? It's Geert Wilders, a controversial politician"

He was being photographied by someone in front of several parts of the buiding. Approximately a dozen of bodyguards were present to avert any potential threat, due to his radical politican opinions.


After that, we walked to the Couperusmuseum, about Louis Couperus, of whom we'll read three books in the second term. We split the group in two: a group would stay in the museum while the other would go for a walk in the neighbourhood. I was part of the group that stayed inside. Our guide was Ton, a man who is really a Couperus freak. He spoke fluently and cracked up several jokes that nobody understood. That's the reason why Mrs Leijnse let him know that we weren't Flemings, but French-speaking people studying Dutch… He spoke less quickly after that… He told us about "Louwis"'s life and his works. Then we went out for a walk round the block, located in a neighbourhood where many diplomats (cf. CD licence plates) live.


We came back to the museum half an hour later, half frozen. About five minutes later, we headed for the station.

We picked up our cases in the safes and we ran to catch the train to Amsterdam. It was pretty crowded, so that most of us stayed in the transit space between two railroad cars. We arrived in Amsterdam at 6.15 pm approximately. We took the tramway to the Leidseplein, the closest to the Jeugdherberg, a youth hostel in the Middle of the Vondelpark. We installed our headquarters in our room and after that we went downstairs to have a drink and play pool; even M. Van Mensel was part of the fun!





It was only just before one o'clock that I decided to go to my room and sleep.